Tag Archives: Malta

My only safe haven

It’s #FiveMinuteFriday and today’s word prompt is Haven. If you want to read other posts on the same subject you can go to Kate’s place here!

I immediately thought of the words to the old hymn, Haven of Rest and will now have it in my head for days. The author, Henry Gilmour, was an immigrant from Ireland. He had set sail at the age of 16 to learn navigation but when they arrived in Philadelphia, Henry decided to stay in America and seek his fortune. He earned his living as a house painter and serving in the Civil War, was captured and spent time in a confederate prison. After the war, he trained as a dentist, an occupation he would have for many years.

Henry also knew the Savior, which is obvious by his hymns. One of my favorite verses is the very first:

My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea,
So burdened with sin and distressed,
Till I heard a sweet voice, saying, “Make Me your choice”;
And I entered the “Haven of Rest”!

Is it really that simple? Will our burdens be lifted and our life free of pain, worry and stress if we make Jesus our choice?

Yes.

And no.

True, our troubles may not vanish but the sweet peace that comes with knowing Jesus can carry us through any situation. He is our safe haven!

So what is a haven? It is simply a refuge, or place of safety or an inlet providing shelter for ships or boats; a harbor or small port. We witnessed first hand several beautiful safe havens when we were on the Mediterranean island of Malta last year.

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You can’t see the inlet itself here but picture a violent storm and this small boat tossed about on the waves of the sea. Certain that they will be lost in the storm, all of a sudden they see a shelter, a place of refuge, a literal safe haven.

“He made the storm be still,  and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.” Psalm 107:29, 30 ESV.

Carved out of the rock, a perfect place for shelter, a safe haven away from the storm! That is the key!

He shows His hand and His mighty power by protecting us, sheltering us or covering us with His strength to do the unimaginable. Philippians 4:13.

Are you searching for peace and safety? Do you need a place of refuge and someone to lift the heavy load you are carrying? There is such a place just for you when you make that choice. Jesus is calling! You were not meant to bear your burdens alone, let Him carry them for you and bring you peace today. Anchor your soul in the Haven of Rest!

I’ve anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest,
I’ll sail the wide seas no more;
The tempest may sweep o’er wild, stormy, deep,
In Jesus I’m safe evermore.

If you have never heard this comforting hymn, take a listen:

Separated at 30,000 ft. Part 2!



This site contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure above.

Today’s post is Part 2, the conclusion of Separated from The Sweetheart. You can read Part 1 here. Today? Separated at 30,000 ft. Part 2!
This flight actually took place first, from the Mediterranean island of Malta to Frankfurt, Germany where we were staying overnight. We had about 18 hours total to see Frankfurt…no worries we have had much less on long layovers. We once only had eight hours in Copenhagen and we sure didn’t spend it in the airport! We hopped a taxi and headed for the river, took a cruise to see as much as we could, ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, saw the Tivoli and even shopped for souvenirs. It can be done!
So in Frankfurt, we had secured a room at a brand new Holiday Inn right downtown (for a steal!!) and were looking forward to seeing a little bit of the city, even though the sun wasn’t cooperating. Here are a few pictures of Römerberg, the historic heart of the city: (The church in the second picture dates back to the 13th century!)
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So we have boarded our flight and this time The Sweetheart was BEHIND me. (Yes, I know, I need to start booking these flights myself) I had the aisle again and he did too so he was continually reaching up and bugging me, flipping my hair or asking me questions.
A few minutes later, a young man gave the customary “Excuse me.” He had the window seat and as the plane filled up we were both delighted to discover the seat between us would remain empty.  Hooray for the little things.

 

I say “young” because I thought he was the age of my boys, 28-30 or so. After about an hour of conversation he told me he was 46!! Seven years younger than me! I wasn’t about to tell him that and have him gasp as I had, only for the opposite reason.
I noticed right away he was getting a lot of attention from the Lufthansa flight attendants. They came around passing out little bags of pretzels. I received one little bag but my friend received two! They were chatting in German so naturally I couldn’t understand them. When they came back a couple of minutes later with soft drinks they poured mine out of the can into the small plastic cup and handed it to me. His? He got the full cup AND the rest of the can! Laughing, joking, bantering back and forth and in the process one of the flight attendants opened another can and it spewed all over her. Being the ever-ready-and-prepared traveler, I reached into my bag for a giant wet wipe and handed it to one of the attendants who handed it to the one who had made the mess. She immediately looked at my friend and thanked HIM! I interrupted then, in English, and said, “No, no, no…” pointing to me. He was laughing hard by then and telling them in German. Right, this nice looking, single guy carries giant Wet Ones with him. Seriously.
So when they left I couldn’t resist asking, “So, do you know the flight attendants personally?”
“No.”
“You are receiving quite a bit of extra attention, extra snacks, extra drinks and tons of smiles!”
He laughed, winked and said, “Just me.”

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He asked what we had been doing in Malta and I was delighted to tell him that we had been staying with resident missionaries while doing leadership training and teaching in the church. He had been sent there by his job to brush up on his English. We talked about life, families and just general things until we were almost ready to land. We had been talking a little about the world state of affairs when he said this:
“Oh, we will never have another world war again. Never happen. We have all learned our lesson and we don’t have to worry about that any longer.”

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” Edmund Burke

Of course we all wish my newfound friend was right. As Christians, we know things are rapidly pointing to the coming of the Lord and that things in this life, as we have always known it, cannot continue forever.
Evil abounds and we are in the middle of a war against humanity. We see it every day on television and social media that ISIS is slowly, but surely, taking over city after city and eventually, country after country as they attempt to take over the world. Yes, the world! That is their goal and they have not kept it a secret.
How should we live? As my friend with his head in the sand oblivious to what is going on around him? It is easy to do that…we aren’t under imminent threat here yet, but we will be. We cannot shy away from that! ISIS is not becoming weaker but continues to take over city after city, week after week. We only see a small portion of what is actually taking place in the Middle East, it is much worse than we can possibly imagine.

So should we run through town with placards that state, “THE END IS NEAR”?

Yes. And No. We do have to sound the warning but at the same time we have the Good News! The purpose of the Church of the Living God is to reach out to the lost.
I have always thought the focus on endtime events, though very important and not to be ignored, should be more on what Jesus has done on the Cross, why He came, why He died and what He has done in our own lives. We should be praying for miracles, signs and wonders to be done in our midst again, that is what drew people in the time of the disciples and it will do the same today. People want to know that God is real and even if you don’t have a testimony of a blind eye being opened or a deaf ear unstopped you DO have a story of God’s keeping power, His deliverance, His “I will never leave you nor forsake you” promises.

It isn’t all doom and gloom. There is Hope and His name is Jesus. Even as we work to spread the Gospel, the Good News is that Jesus, not Mohammed, is the One, True God who came in the flesh and gave His very life so that we could have eternal life. We serve a LIVING GOD!
Does that mean we will not suffer? Obviously that is not a promise; the Bible says we WILL suffer persecution for His name. We have seen that down through the centuries, we know the apostles and hundreds of thousands of Christians laid down their lives for the Name of Jesus. And we see it again today as we read bulletin after bulletin of Christians being beheaded because they would not denounce their faith.
So, you might ask, what is the point? Why did they do it? Why didn’t they just SAY they denied Jesus to save their lives?
Because He first loved them. And us. Because greater love has NO MAN than this than that He would lay down His life for His friends. Because He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us and will give us eternal life in His presence, eternal paradise, if we hold steadfast to the end.
God doesn’t want anyone to be lost and that should be our heart’s cry as well. He loves the sinner no matter what they have done, what they look like or even what they smell like. Would He have shied away from PigPen and his wife? I think not. I pray I have learned a lesson from these two travel partners. Sometimes we might have to get dirty, get uncomfortable, go where no man has gone before…we might have to stretch ourselves even when we don’t feel like it.

He reached for us, may we fulfill His purpose by reaching for those around us and giving them Hope.

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The-Daniel-Fast-A-DevotionalThe Daniel Fast Devotional is still going strong! This week I was privileged to be a part of a podcast interview on the Apostolic Informer with Host Rob Barrow. He allowed me to talk about the book, how it came to be, what is a Daniel Fast, etc. and even give away a book or two. Folks, I don’t do well listening to my own voice, yikes. But Rob is doing a great job getting information on district happenings within the UPCI for Indiana and beyond. Take a listen here and get your copy of The Daniel Fast, A Devotional, today!

 

 

 

Separated from The Sweetheart at 30,000 ft



This site contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure above.

 

Constant togetherness is fine…for Siamese twins.

It finally happened.
I was afraid it would.
We had been fortunate. Side by side. Through thick and thin, weathering the turbulence as many have before us.
Maybe it was inevitable, maybe it was fate.

Maybe we didn’t get our tickets in time.

Separated from The Sweetheart at 30,000 ft. After 36 years of blissful togetherness.
Make that twice in the same trip separated. We will go backward with this one and talk about the second flight first.

Because we can.

Heading down the aisle of the Airbus 330, I was not excited one bit that I was in the middle section of the plane. The good part was that I had the aisle and The Sweetheart was, sort of, across from me, up just a wee bit but basically across from each other. He also had the aisle seat. (Now for all of you thinking this wasn’t separation, you just do not know me. I have overcome many fears over the last five years of flying but I have always had my security blanket, a.k.a., The Sweetheart, right beside me.) He was there if I had questions such as, but not limited to:
  • Why is the plane making that noise?

  • Did the landing gear not come down?

  • Can we crash because of turbulence?

  • Turn my air up. Turn my air down. (My arms are too short to reach it for crying out loud!)

  • Are you getting a Coke? With ice? Are you going to ask for ice? You ask first. (European flight attendants do not smile when you ask for ice. Spoiled Americans.)

  • Are you going to the bathroom? Yes, you are going to the bathroom because I need to go and I refuse to lock the door in an airplane bathroom for fear of getting stuck for the next eight hours inside that torture chamber. (No, we do not go in together. He stands outside as if waiting his turn but his real job is to make sure no one else tries to come in. He failed at this on our flight from Chicago to Vienna but that is another story for another time.)

I forgot to mention the most important reason we cannot be separated on an airplane: I must have the arm of the person next to me available for digging in my fingernails should it become necessary. So, you see, I need him.
Separated from the Sweetheart
I sat down and waited; The Sweetheart sat down sort-of-across-but-not-exactly-from-me.
Here they came. A couple, about our age, early 50’s I would guess. It took all of three seconds to realize we were not going to get along.
I am allergic to B.O. Terribly allergic. How is that possible you ask? Do I break out in a rash? No. But I do have trouble breathing maybe to the point of hyperventilating if I am in the room, just the same room mind you, of someone with Body Odor. This was no normal body odor. It was body odor times two. You wouldn’t have recognized it by sight either; they looked like fairly educated people but obviously did not believe in either bathing regularly or odor controlling products that you can get OTC at a reasonable price. Today, you can even make your own without all the added chemicals and mercury!
I looked at The Sweetheart who was all smiles because a young attractive girl had taken the seat next to the window, next to him. I tried to give him The Look to let him know all was NOT well.
I whispered. That didn’t work; he couldn’t hear me.

I tried just mouthing the words, with extreme exaggeration and eye movements, “THEY. HAVE. B. O.!”

“What? I can’t hear you?”
“B.O.!! It’s bad!”
He finally caught on as did the two women behind him who were chuckling at this point.
I was doomed. At least eight hours with Pig Pen and his wife who had just taken off her shoes and put on the dirtiest I-think-they-used-to-be-white socks I had ever seen.

She was settling in for the long haul.

The only good thing? A seat between us. I’m sure, by looking at me, they were as happy as I was because I couldn’t refrain from using some sort of clothing mask. I already had my collar pulled up to one side of my face and was pretending as if the fragrance of my fabric softener was so pleasant I might want to do a TV commercial. I doubt my subtlety was working but I didn’t care. If someone was going to flaunt their stench so that an entire airplane had to suffer then I must take drastic measures. I had to protect myself, my stomach, my watering eyes and especially my breathing apparatuses from giving out on me in my time of extreme need.
At this point, all of my Essential Oil friends are asking, “Where are THEY?” Unfortunately, on the return flight, I had packed them in my checked baggage. I know, right? Never again will I board a plane without Thieves or Stress Away!
Finally, I resorted to praying. (You knew I would try to make this spiritual didn’t you?) It went something like this:

Dear Lord, I wondered if you would do me a favor? I know it is a first-world problem and I have much to be thankful for. But if you could see fit, before this plane takes off, to bump me to First Class I would be forever grateful. If you think I am being overly dramatic, how about just sending a slight rushing wind to blow continually to my right for this overseas, extremely long flight? Okay, I will take anything at this point that gets my mind off of the fact that I could close my eyes and easily assume I am in a men’s locker room. After the game. Thank you in advance for anything you can do. Amen.

Thankfully, I believe He heard my prayer. Somehow it did get better and I eventually settled down to play Angry Birds and read a good book and hope that the in-flight meal didn’t contain any meat products. Of any kind.
The day before, we had flown out of Malta, in the Mediterranean, after three weeks of teaching and training in that beautiful island country. Here are a few more pictures if you have missed any of my posts. Gozo, Comino and the Blue Lagoon were absolutely amazing!
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The moral of this story? It has a second part! Tune in tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel for the conclusion with the story from the FIRST flight. (Update! You can read Part 2 here!)

 

285-_10650178

The-Daniel-Fast-A-DevotionalThe Daniel Fast Devotional is still going strong! This week I was privileged to be a part of a podcast interview on the Apostolic Informer with Host Rob Barrow. He allowed me to talk about the book, how it came to be, what is a Daniel Fast, etc. and even give away a book or two. Folks, I don’t do well listening to my own voice, yikes. But Rob is doing a great job getting information on district happenings within the UPCI for Indiana and beyond. Take a listen here and get your copy of The Daniel Fast, A Devotional, today!

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